Harmony

LL down through the ages it has been thought that the Kingdom of Heaven was a special place, located somewhere in space, where everything is beautiful, and everybody happy and satisfied. But now that Divine Science has proven the infinity and omnipresence of God, and we are conscious of His presence everywhere, we know that the special place where heaven is to be found is here, and the time for our enjoyment of it, is now. Now, the accepted time for the enjoyment of all that is good and real, can never be realized through postponement, for procrastination is the thief of time.

Jesus Christ-God with us-always has the right idea of heaven, that it is at hand, and that the son of man is in heaven; hence the instruction to all the disciples to pray," Thy will be (is) done in earth as it is in heaven." "And when ye pray, believe that ye receive and ye shall have," means believe that what you have prayed for is just as you have stated; that is, have the faith that what you have asked for is, and is included in the gift of God, Eternal Life.

The general idea of the conditions to be enjoyed in heaven, held by the christian world, is not to be discouraged, but should be understood, and if so, then understood because heaven is at hand and is with us here and now -wherever we are.

Jesus sent his disciples forth and instructed them to preach the gospel and heal the sick, saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; so it is selfevident that the Truth of Heaven at hand is within us here and now, to be preached and applied through instruction that makes whole. A heaven that we may possibly enter in some far-off to-morrow has in Divine Science given place to one in which we now experience within our being a state of supreme happiness, in which we daily and hourly commune with God, the everywhere present good; a state of at-one-ment so complete that self-communion is divine communion.

The nature of the general idea of heaven is that it is a place where it is perfect happiness to be; where all are free from every condition that tends to

unhappiness. Free from death, sorrow, pain, disease, labor and want, this is all good, but is not all this the true state of our being? Reflect for a moment upon the depths of meaning hidden in the following statements, and our true nature will be revealed. "Without the word (that is with God, and is God), is not anything made that is made.” "It made the world and all things therein." "It is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." "God has nothing but his own perfect substance to make worlds (and all that they contain) out of." There is nothing for us to be but the Life-substance of the one living and true God. We are holy because He is Holy, we are spirit because He is Spirit, we are life because He is Life. We are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. We inherit His Being and eternity. There is no other reality, identity or consciousness of Being, hence nothing else to be. In this the "hidden mystery is revealed." So the true state of our being is that of a little child.

Jesus said: "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. To suffer children to come unto me, is to allow, and accept them to be just what Christ is "the word made flesh," and educate them in the Truth of Being, so that they will know what they are, and just what their relation to their Father is, and that the God and Father of one is the God and Father of all. To forbid them not, is to draw no lines between them and Christ, and make no separation between Spirit and body. To come unto, is to be the same as. So we are not to prevent ourselves from claiming the Christ of God for all, and teach people that from Being they can truthfully make claims of equality with Jesus Christ.

The little child is a perfect example of the inhabitants of Heaven. It represents true meekness and lowliness of heart in being natural-just what God made it, and not trying to become something different. It is trustful and happy now, and believes that what it wants it can have; that it has a right to have its natural wants supplied.

The child represents original purity and innocence. It is without human beliefs, opinions and claims about itself, and is in the same state that all things are that God creates or makes. So were we educated from childhood in the Truth of our Being, we would never make false statements, or say I, to anything but God; we would claim and realize that which rightfully belongs to the child of God or Son of the most high. "For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven," means that little children are the Kingdom of Heaven. Within God, by the nature of law, power, are we begotten in His image and likeness, and little children stand for the whole of creation, and right here we are able to see and enjoy the divine love and protecting care of the "Holy One" in whom we live, whose will is done in earth as it is in heaven.

Let us accept little children in the name of Jesus Christ as Christ children, the only name for them, and suffer them to come unto me by so doing, knowing that anything that we ask for them in their true name I will give it, that God be glorified in them.

Thy will is done in earth as it is in heaven. Thanks be to God who has given us the victory in Jesus Christ our Lord, we are not twain, neither do we believe in duality, or any theory built upon a false claim of duality. Two That begotten of Spirit is spirit. Heaven has come.

are as one.

M. E. ORAMER.

Questions and Answers.

WHAT is meant by going into the silence?

A. It means to enter into a state of mental abstraction in which thought and attention is withdrawn from all external things, conditions, surroundings, time and place; but there are two ways of entering into this state, the one is positive and the other negative. When it is entered in the positive way the attention is withdrawn from the external and centered upon Being or God, the principle and substance, and reality of self, and all visible things, the purpose being to realize at-one-ment with God, and thereby commune with Him and self, and from this plane of consciousness express or demonstrate our inherent power and possibility, or in other words, express what we are.

When the silence is entered into in a negative way, the attention is withdrawn from the external the same as in the positive, but it is not fixed upon Being nor upon any definite purpose to be accomplished, hence it is an attitude of waiting for something to come, not knowing from whence it comes, but the conclusion is that the impressions received must come from God, because received in the silence, when the truth is that most, if not all, received in this negative state are simply impressions, and are just as liable to be received from one source as another, and as liable to be false as true. Going into the silence in this way is to become a medium for impressions, and is more apt to injure than benefit those who practice it. God expresses Himself, and is never impressed, and if we follow His method we shall express ourselves, and not place ourselves in an attitude to receive impressions.

The common practice with some, of holding in thought a word or words for the purpose of bringing about certain results, and not realizing that they are the reality of the word, can bring nothing but a sensuous response. To go into the silence understandingly, is to go into it for the purpose of speak

ing the positive words of the truth of what God is, which words testify of our at-one-ment with Him. These words do not result in a sensuous response, but make visible the truth of what God is.

Q. I have studied under a number of teachers of the "new thought,” and have always been led to think that these higher truths should not be used on so low a plane as material prosperity, or business success. It was taught that we have a right to expect health and spiritual prosperity, but that it is wrong to use the Truth to further our financial interests.

I have gathered from the teaching that you not only approve of using Truth for prosperity, but teach that we may use science to promote material prosperity. Is this right? Is it according to the Bible?

A. If Truth is not to be used and made the basis for prosperity on this plane of existence, then there is nothing that can be used and made the basis of our dealings with each other but error. As long as we hold that there is both material and spiritual prosperity, we will hold one in Truth and the other in error, which is a dual theory not found in Truth. The moment we hold Truth for both they are seen to be one even as Truth is one-unit.

If it is wrong to use the Truth to further our financial interests, it is certainly right to set Truth aside and use error. They who have been thus instructed in the "higher thought," have not been taught unity of action and result, hence it is possible for them to suppose that Truth could be used for the well being of some, and to the detriment of others, but this is not possible.

One who reads the Bible and does not see that prosperity is God's law, does not read attentively, and all he needs to do to realize that God is His own success, is simply to behold the Truth of the visible universe spread abroad before us. Since God is successful, and is infinite, man's success is to be found within him, hence it is written, "No good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly." The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

"Turn not to the right hand nor to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest." And Jesus said: "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Surely success must be a good thing, rightly understood, and being a good thing it is Godly; so I would say: "First seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added." In the Kingdom of God and His rightness there is food, raiment and shelter for all.

The belief of inequality and want has come about through misunderstanding of God's law, and through the belief that we are not to use the Truth in

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Harmony, 10권